An athletic freak originally from New Jersey, Hand was part of Matt Rhule’s first recruiting class at Baylor. Hand was a consistent contributor during his two years at Baylor, as he was pressed into early playing time due to injuries during his freshman year. Hand played more sporadically this year as he dealt with injuries.

His primary recruiter was Fran Brown, and it feels safe to speculate that some combination of Brown leaving Baylor and Hand being from New Jersey played a role in this decision.

There is no spinning this one positively for Baylor—other than that it opens a spot in a full recruiting class, but that’s a small consolation. Hand was a significant contributor and his loss makes Baylor worse than it could have been on defense. The good news is that Baylor is relatively deep at cornerback, achieving really good play from Raleigh Texada, Jameson Houston, and Kalon Barnes.

The bad news is that much of their good play can be credited to the stellar coaching of Fran Brown, who is now gone. Cornerback will be an interesting position to watch this upcoming year.